Noteworthy reads from the last week:
“Creative Accounting,” Michelle Dean
“Along with the long hours alone and the creeping madness, one of the questionable benefits of the writing life is that you are self-employed. This makes tax time an extra-special delight.”
“eBay and the Historical Imagination,” John Lardas Modern
“When I think of eBay, I think of Walter Benjamin and his recollection of an auction in Berlin in 1930.”
“All God’s Creatures," Susan Harlan
“To enter the Creation Museum and Taxidermy Hall of Fame (and the Antique Tool Museum), I walked down a flight of stairs into an underground lair that was guarded by an enormous armored knight.”
“Track and Yield,” Julia Lipscomb
“The internet is whatever we want. There is room for all kinds of different webs, different internets. If you are a person who is interested in independence and serendipity, then what you need to do is support creators.”
“The Vampire Virtuoso? Paganini’s Bloodletting Kit Is for Sale,” Rebecca Rego Barry
“In Paris and elsewhere in Europe, Paganini further beguiled the public by sauntering through graveyards and visiting hospitals and autopsy rooms. Clad in his black cape, he would sometimes serenade the dead and the gravely ill.”